The Battle of Trollbane
The major opening act in the short but bloody Andurn War, the Battle of Trollbane was a vicious fight that took the Fomorian army over the wall and into the heartlands of civilization. Whilst often thought of has one coherent battle, there were two major centers of conflict. The first being the Fomorian attempt to capture the great Andurn Keep and the second being the destruction of the Dwarven reinforcements by the Ohrt Falg Fat Gut and his Fomorian allies. Prelude to Battle This battle can be seen as the culmination of Ergot the Terrible's life work and the friction between growing human populations with Fomorians. The battle itself took place on a crisp summers day, although the battle lasted well into the night, which is when the Dwarven reinforcements were destroyed. Ergot hoped that by attacking the Andurn Keep on the great wall, he would open up a pathway for him and his allies to push through onto Cirandor. The Armies Fomorians The Fomorians were lead by the Troll Ergot the Terrible, who's tenacious leadership kept in-line even the strongest of giants. There were around 400 Trolls present, all equipped with their traditional spears but with varying levels of armour. Ergot's personal retinue of 50 trolls were armoured with great iron helms, breast plates and shin guards. There were 800 Ogres and 1000 Cyclopses, all armed in varying quality, usually weilding clubs or the like with thick hide armour. The most terrifying part of Ergot's warhost were the 50 Giants, or the Great 50 as they became known. These were terrifyingly tall, equipped with whatever they could fashion into a weapon. Ohrt Allied Contingent Alongside these were the forces of Ohrt Falg Fat Gut, a large contingent of 7000 Goblins and 1000 Rolgs made up the bulk of the force, whilst 300 Ogres and 200 Trolls were also sent to fight under his command by Ergot. Allied Forces The largely human defenders of the Andurn keep were lead by Captain Willem Hodd, a grizzled veteran who had fought for years against goblins underground. He had a garrison of 8,000 men at the mighty keep, along with all the seige equipment such as Ballistas and Catapults. He also had with him the traditional Andurn Keep Guard, a small elite force of heavy equipped Dwarves. Dwarven Reinforcements Hurrying to reinforce the Andurn Keep were a group of Dwarves lead by Orl Stonecutter. They numbered around 4000. More importantly they had with them the great wizard Ardin the Splendid. The Course of the Battle The main stage of the battle was Ergot's assault on the Andurn Keep, a major fortification on the Great Wall. It was a rather unsubtle affair, in the middle of the day he charged without warning into the earth ramparts in front of the wall, the giants caused havok and the small palisades were quickly shattered. He then ordered the Ogres up the main gate, with the Troll guard taking the front. They slowly smashed down the gate, whilst giant attempted to climb the walls, getting speared by the massive Ballistas that guarded it. Slowly the outer walls were overrun, with much of the fire focused on the giants, they others were given ample time to force their way over the walls using huge seige ladders. With the outer fortifications lost, Captain Willem Hodd ordered a retreat to the central keep where they would wait for the reinforcements to arrive. The reinforcements however would not be coming. The Dwarves were ambushed from an underground former Wyrm tunnel. The Goblins and other beasts hurtled out of the tunnel and set upon their surprised foes. Orl Stonecutter managed to rally his troops into a stubborn defensive circle and wave upon wave crashed upon their shield wall. It was the Fomorians who turned the battle, they smashed chunks out of the shieldwall and allowed the Goblins space to get in amongst the Dwarves. Slowly they were massacred, Dwarves hurled like dolls against rocks or their heads crushed like peas by the towering Fomorians. When the Willem Hodd heard of this catastrophe he ordered an immediate retreat, leaving only the Dwarven Keep Guard to defend the fortress. They were quickly dealt with by the Fomorian host who hung their mutilated bodies from the ramparts of the now taken castle. Aftermath The fall of the Andurn Keep, a hugely important strategic fortification was a massive blow. Not only were they unable to defend against any incursions but taking it back would be virtually impossible without raising a huge army. The idea of taking the Andurn Keep after it had been infested with Fomorians, Goblins or worse was not a thought that any general would like to entertain. More importantly in the context of the war it gave the Fomorians a central base of operations on Erumdor and gave them a pathway to their real target, the metropolis of Cirandor. Category:Battle